There should be nothing I can't live without.

In part, it's so difficult to come up with something original, to come up with a character nowadays. If you created a globetrotting adventurer, he'd be compared to Indiana Jones. If you created a super spy, he'd be compared to James Bond.

I'm very fortunate in that all the mediums I work in are extremely collaborative. Movies are probably the most solitary on a day to day basis, but even then you have producers and studio executives to work with and bounce ideas off of.

The guy who sits at the keyboard and types is so much smarter than I am. I think I got into writing so that I could spend as much time with that guy as possible.

At some point if you're a professional writer, no matter what, it always comes down to you staring at the blank page by yourself.

Do what you love and you'll always love what you do. I've found that that's true most of the time.

You can save the city, but having the city be in jeopardy is one thing and having the people you care about be in jeopardy is another.